Hantavirus outbreak: Passengers, crew members depart from affected cruise ship

Passenger groups and crew members departed a cruise ship affected by a hantavirus outbreak on Sunday, beginning an evacuation to their home nations coordinated by international health authorities and scheduled through Monday.

The travelers, all currently asymptomatic, were transported to Tenerife airport via military transport for departure on government aircraft, with officials stressing that these individuals will remain completely isolated from the general public.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has advised a mandatory 42-day quarantine for every passenger starting Sunday.

Flights for Spanish and French citizens had taken off by 1130 GMT. Health Minister Monica Garcia identified Canada, the Netherlands, the UK, Turkey, Ireland, and the United States as the next nations set to retrieve their residents, noting that the Dutch flight would also accommodate Germans, Belgians, and Greeks.

An Australian aircraft intended for its citizens, New Zealanders, and other Asian nationals is expected to arrive Monday and leave by that afternoon, Garcia noted.

Hantavirus, typically rodent-borne but capable of rare human-to-human transmission, was identified on May 2—three weeks after the initial fatality—when South African medics tested a British patient in critical care. Two subsequent deaths among former travelers have occurred.

The vessel sailed for Spain on Wednesday from Cape Verde after the WHO and EU requested the country oversee the evacuation following the outbreak's detection.

Authorities suggest the index case likely contracted the virus before embarkation, potentially while traveling through Argentina and Chile, with subsequent transmission happening onboard.

A WHO update on Friday confirmed eight individuals off the ship had fallen ill, including the three deceased: a German national and a Dutch couple. Six of those eight cases are laboratory-confirmed.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, present in Tenerife for the operation, stated Sunday that experts are collaborating with Spanish medics to conduct passenger testing.

One Spanish woman, previously considered a suspected case after flying with a deceased patient, received a negative test result late Saturday.

The British military has deployed a specialized medical team via parachute to the isolated island of Tristan da Cunha to assist a second suspected case—a British man who was a passenger and resides on the South Atlantic territory.

Four patients are currently receiving hospital care in South Africa, the Netherlands, and Switzerland, while a suspected case in Germany was cleared.

Europe’s public health agency labeled all MV Hondius passengers as high-risk contacts late Saturday as a safety measure, though it maintained that the threat to the general public is minimal.

The agency further noted that no rodent activity was found on the vessel.

Spanish officials confirmed that passengers will remain on the ship until their specific evacuation flights land.

Spain's health ministry said in a report on the ship passing the appropriate health checks: "There are more than 500 cruise ships a year that come from Argentina and Chile, which is home to the virus, and yet an outbreak of this illness has never happened in European territory so the possibility it happens in relation to this ship is remote."

A skeleton crew of thirty will stay on the boat to sail it to the Netherlands for a comprehensive disinfection process.